That night, I reviewed the evidence and realized Aiden had been studying my daily habits for nearly a year to impersonate my husband flawlessly, even trading places with him halfway through our anniversary night after Ethan bought me flowers and took me to dinner. As I packed my belongings to stay with my parents, I knocked over a medication box and suddenly remembered that Ethan had broken his right ankle in college and had two permanent metal surgical screws inserted. I immediately called Detective Morgan to have the medical examiner inspect the driver’s right ankle. Thirty minutes later, Morgan called back to confirm the person from the crash had no surgical implants, meaning Aiden had passed away in the vehicle and the man currently pretending to be Aiden was actually my husband, Ethan. Ethan had survived and claimed to be his twin so that Ethan Parker would be declared legally deceased, allowing the financial crimes to disappear with his name. Five minutes after Morgan warned me to stay away from him, Ethan knocked on my apartment door, used a forgotten mechanical backup key to enter, and calmly admitted he knew I had figured out the truth about his ankle.
I secretly triggered the emergency location alert Detective Morgan had set up on my phone and kept Ethan talking to buy time. He confessed that he had smelled brake fluid on Aiden’s clothes the night before, realized his brother had sabotaged the SUV out of fear, and intentionally sent Aiden out to drive the compromised vehicle while wearing Ethan’s clothes and carrying his identification. When I confronted him about the life insurance policy on my life and the supplies meant for the boat launch, he coldly insisted nothing bad would have happened to me if I had simply cooperated with his plan. Hearing the elevator arrive in the hallway, Ethan realized the police were coming and grabbed me as I tried to run, so I kicked his right ankle with all my strength. He collapsed in pain just as Detective Morgan and his officers burst through the door, and new medical scans of his ankle officially confirmed his identity as Ethan. Investigators later recovered deleted cloud files outlining his entire scheme to use Aiden as a stand-in, take the company funds, and resolve my situation later, while Aiden’s scheduled delayed text messages explained the rest of the rivalry. Ethan was charged for his role in the financial crimes and his brother’s fate, most of the company money was recovered, and I sold the apartment, deleting all three user fingerprints from the smart lock before stepping out into a bright morning to start my life anew without looking back.